The present invention relates to a proofing chamber for dough portions, in particular to a conveyor used in such a chamber.
In a proofing chamber pans are circulated for some time under specific conditions that are favorable to the proofing of the dough portions placed in the pans, and prior art proofing chambers are fitted therefor with a conveyor for circulating the pans in a vertical plane between a feeder station and a discharge station where the pans are introduced into, and removed from, the circulation circuit, respectively. A drawback associated with such prior art proofing chamber constructions is that the conveyor used therein operates discontinuously i.e., it has to be in the rest position during the supply and discharge of pans, or, in case of a continuously operating conveyor, complicated feeder and discharge mechanisms are required for the dough pieces, as described in Dutch Pat. No. 22,757 of Baker Perkins Ltd. Moreover with respect to the total dimensions of prior art proofing chambers, assuming that the conveyor is incorporated in an insulating housing, the capacity thereof is comparatively small.
A larger capacity than prior art proofing chambers are the cooling columns employed in bakeries, whereby baked loaves are advanced on a belt-shaped conveyor according to a spiral track between a feeder and a discharge station and can cool off during residence in the column. The conveyors used in such coolers have a belt-shaped or lattice-shaped working face on which separate loaves should be able to rest, and as a result are rather complicated and hence expensive.